Heh, I love stories like this. I don’t know anyone with any sense who really expects an instant noodle snack to have real meat. I knew about the soy protien/yeast extract thing since I was 8 or 9, which was many moons ago.
As for the insect dye...that’s probably cochineal. Peruvians have been dyeing fabrics with it for centuries. As a food colorant, it’s no more dangerous than any other food dye. It’s very stable and holds up well to temperature changes.
Or it could be squashed cockroaches. I never claimed to be a food scientist, LOL. :-)
Specifically, female cochineals. Europeans also used it as a dye, and as a coloring agent for food and beverages.
I just started reading the landmark 1820 British tome "A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons Exhibiting the Fraudulent Sophistications of Bread, Beer, Wine, Spiritous Liquors, Tea, Coffee, Cream, Confectionery, Vinegar, Mustard, Pepper, Cheese, Olive Oil, Pickles, and Other Articles Employed in Domestic Economy", by Fredrick Accum (from Gutenberg.org)
Slow going, because of both the prose and antiquated terms. About a quarter of the unfamiliar words aren't recognized by my ereader's wimpy dictionary.
From other readings, it wasn't until 1860 that British Parliament finally got around to passing a decent food act.
Red lead was a popular additive. And brick dust. And alum was used to salvage spoiled flour...
Even the equivalent of ipecac syrup wasn't below being adulterated.
To be fair, vegetable starches (corn, tapioca, potato) were added to to make products better, in addition to cheating the consumer.